Characterizing deficiencies of path-based routing for wireless multi-hop networks

With the emergence of the Internet of Things, there is a renewed focus on multi-hop wireless networking to connect these systems of smart-devices. Many of the proposals to support this new networking paradigm continue to use the concept of routing: a path between users is formed via a series of point-to-point links. We believe that the characteristics of the wireless environment inherently make path-based routing unsuitable for wireless networking, and that new approaches need to be considered. In this paper, we examine the effectiveness of routing for reliably and efficiently delivering data in a wireless network. Specifically, we demonstrate that path-based routing (1) experiences high packet loss due to the inherently unreliable nature of control information, (2) is unable to ensure reliable message delivery in a lossy environment, and (3) incurs a high cost for route maintenance and repair. We compare path-based routing to newer “smart-flooding” protocols, and show that these alternative approaches provide better delivery at lower cost.